Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 28, 2012 at 5:18 pm

It was an extravaganza, no doubt. A bit busy, to my likes, but full of special effects and leftist propaganda. The NHS frill was over the top. Nice sheep, though. The Queen/James Bond thing, was a joke, though apparently well received by the Brits. I was very disappointed that a bunch of kids were given the spot to light the flame...should have been Roger Banister or Sebastian Coe.

The laughable inference that Mitt Romney stepped in the mud, pales by comparison that Obama removed Churchill's bust from the Oval Office, and returned it to the Brits. Web Link

Very sad that affordable health care is considered the norm in civilized countries but "leftist propoganda" in the USA.

Just read that most of the surviving Colorado shooting victims are unable to pay their hospital bills because of high costs and inadequate insurance. This would not happen in any other civilized country.

Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 28, 2012 at 6:11 pm

Spent a couple of weeks in Canada last month. Single payer system. This means rationed health care. If you have a bad knee that is killing you with pain, you are only allowed one joint replacement over your lifetime. The doctors up there will refuse to do it, until you reach a presceibed age, because joint replacements last only last about 10 years. Their answer to you: Suffer the pain, until you hit the prescribed age. One guy I talked to was four years short of the cutoff age...he will just need to put up with the pain, I suppose. He couldn't believe that the U.S. system allows joint replacements at will, to those who have insurance or enough money to pay for it (something that is illegal in Canada).

Also, the average tax take in Canada, for the average working man, is over 50%. Most working people in Canada are in debt, because they do not retain enough of their income to pay off their normal purchases. This results in a serious social dislocation and stress.

The British NHS does allow supplemental insurance, which is a good thing, because those of means at least have a chance of pain relief, even though the poor bloke does not. Rationed health care is a bitch for most people. Why was the NHS extolled by the Opening Cermonies, except for the fact that Danny Boyle is a socialist?

Posted by stephen levy
a resident of University South
on Jul 28, 2012 at 6:56 pmstephen levy is a registered user.

One thing that captivated me about tne ceremony was the emphasis on children and the next generation.

The segment that Gary reads all sorts of nefarious inferences into was played by real doctors and nurses from London children's hospitals. The children fell asleep and had nightmares signified by blown up images of Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series. But the children were saved by a swarm of Mary Poppins' flying to the rescue. It seemed more of a tribute to British children's literature, which has enriched the world, than anything to do with politics.

Seven young British atheletes signifying the next generation did light the torch. It struck me as an innovative response to this traditional end of ceremony event. Not about politice or socialism or anything but a bond between generations and the hopes of Brits for a wonderful future.

Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 28, 2012 at 7:30 pm

Those 'sick' kids in the NHS hopitals were remarkably athletic, as they did backflips, before going to sleep in front of real NHS doctors and nurses, who were doing the jitterbug (trained on the public dime?). Put simply, it was a paean to the NHS by a socialist producer...in other words, propaganda.

If Boyle had added real world class roller coasters, it would have been more interactive. Imagine all those athletes entering the stadium on a triple dipper/double twister, with all hand held high?!

Posted by Resident
a resident of Another Palo Alto neighborhood
on Jul 28, 2012 at 9:08 pm

I think you will find that empty seats are due to the fact that many countries who were allotted seats for their nationals and in fact passed them on to ticket sharks. These illicit sales of tickets had their webe sites shut down and those who passed on their allotted tickets are known to the authorities and will be caught and reprimanded.

Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 29, 2012 at 7:44 am

truth,

Just to be truthful, the Churchill bust, lent to the White House by Tony Blair, was removed from the Oval Office, and returned to the British. A second Churchill bust, which had been around for years was hauled out of storage/repair and put back in the residence.

Posted by empty seats
a resident of Adobe-Meadow
on Jul 29, 2012 at 8:38 am

Just like at Mitt Romney's Olympics, large blocks of seats for the opening ceremony were reserved for corporations. Since a lot of the one-percenter corporate executives couldn't be bothered with sitting in the same room as commoners, the seats went empty. If the Olympics had actually offered these seats to the public, I'm sure they would have sold out.

The Brits detest Romney, even the Fox/Rupert Murdoch paper called him Mitt the Twit.

Mitt the Twit, who insulted the Brits to make himself seem more important. Who publicly talked about a secret meeting with MI6. Who will never be trusted again by the Brits to keep a secret. Who wrote a book called no apology and had to apologize to the PM at 10 Downing. Who was roundly booed by 60,000 in Hyde park who then cheered to the Obama 'Yes, We Can' chant.

Gary/Jimmy trolls the far right fringe site for any story, whether based in fact or not.

Posted by Mitt the Twit
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 29, 2012 at 4:56 pm

Gary: Larry Johns included a link that showed a photo of the British Prime Minister and our President looking at a Churchill bust in the residence. From your own link "A photo showing the president and British Prime Minister David Cameron leaning over a Churchill bust outside the Treaty Room"

Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 29, 2012 at 5:22 pm

&gt;Obama moved the bust to the residence

No, he insisted that the British take it back. It is currently back with the British. Obama hates on Churchill, because Chruchill was a supporter of colonialism, including Kenya, where Obama still dreams lies about his father's heroism. Without Churchill, Obama would probably not have been born, given Hitler's impulses. It was a slap in the face to the Brits to return Churchill's bust. Romney says he will ask the British government to allow him the honor of returning Churchill's bust, currently with the British, back to the Oval Office.

Do your homework. We can't have an honest debate about anything, until the facts are established. You won't get the facts from leftist blogs/websites. That picture you keep looking at was an old bust, returned from storage, apparently for a British PM visit...after the bust in question was rejected, and tossed back to the Brits.

I was hoping to read this thread and enjoy reading about how everyone was enjoying the Olympics, the fact that the bike road races passed by London landmarks, the enthusiasm of the crowds, even the weather. I didn't expect everyone to enjoy the Opening Ceremony, but a discussion about why or why not would make sense.

Instead I find it taken over by political point scoring. What a shame!

If you really want to get political and upset about something, start asking why NBC did a recorded interview by Ryan Seacrest with Michael Phelps instead of showing the Tribute to the 7/7 London terrorist attacks during the opening ceremony or that they aren't showing popular sports like tennis or live streaming for anyone other than cable or other subscribers. Since we have to watch their commercials, we should still be able to get all the coverage available without needing a cable or similar account to watch.

Gary, I am talking about the tribute to the victims of the London terrorist attack that NBC didn't show during the opening ceremony. That is something that every American should be shocked about, if it had been the BBC not broadcasting a 9/11 tribute during an American live event, it would be equally as shocking.

Posted by Gary
a resident of Downtown North
on Jul 29, 2012 at 6:57 pm

&gt;Gary, I am talking about the tribute to the victims of the London terrorist attack that NBC didn't show during the opening ceremony. That is something that every American should be shocked about, if it had been the BBC not broadcasting a 9/11 tribute during an American live event, it would be equally as shocking.

Brit, I completely agree with you. NBC is a tool of the corporate/PC crowd. Showing the London victims of the 7/7 attack by the Islamists might bring on protests, from the Islamists...bad for business, for some reason. BTW, my son was in London on that disgusting day, and he was riding the underground when it happened...just lucky that he was on a non-attacked line. He called me up and was shaking, trembling, weeping. He was forced to grow up that day.

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Disclosure of the required information facilitates evaluation by the government and the American people of the statements and activities of such persons in light of their function as foreign agents.

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